The additional force beyond what you get from a idealized jump, keeping Jesse at a constant altitude force is most likely what is called convection - hot air below expands and due to a lower density than the surroundings and thereby it will start to move upwards in bubbles that can will grow into showers depending on the convection height and atmospheric conditions. A very common thing at Maui (rainbow island) shores. Another solution is mechanical turbulence, which is eddies created by obstacles, just like you get behind trees etc. This jump just does not look like that is the case.

This clip is legit to me since it shows the actual jump and in general the higher you can jump the more likely it is for you to catch thermal convection (winds going vertical).

Hanggliders can stay in the air for hours and hours in thermals...

at the same time this is not a lot different from the BS when kite companies claim that their kite can ride on glossy water in just 4-6 knots. The to this answer is simply that the wind packs above and at kite height there is a LOT more wind. The wind shear can be great when the water is really cool and some warm stable air is flowing in. Stable conditions is key!
This is pretty common in Europe during spring and I have experienced that myself many times. Sometimes the cold air below will even decouple from the upper wind, which means you can have 2 knots at the surface and 20 knots where the kite is at 25 metres..

still, its a nice jump and still it´s ok for Naish to put it in the video!

Thomas (Meteorologist dude with some knowledge about surface winds, wind shears etc. in relation to wind energy and kiting, working for Vestas full time as meteorologist and helping LF with R&D making gear like the HifiX that Nick Jacobsen just got his 2nd place in King of The Air on btw...)

Damien Girardin wrote:Thanks guys for the comments, sorry for the skepticals. I dont know what to ad, I guess we'll get Shawn and Jesse to do more of these jumps to show you guys
Regarding weather it was a "pretty windy day on Maui" so i would say about 25 gusting 30, Shawn was on a 9m.
Looking forward to see some reviews from some of you guys when you get to test this new Draft.

Aloha
Damien

Hi Damien,

Can you tell us a bit more about this kite? What is the bar pressure of the 9m and 12m?
What is the turning speed like?
Single valve?
Micro hook?

Cheers
Caesar

Last edited by Caesar on Mon Feb 04, 2013 5:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Naish, post the real raw video!! This one still very slow for sure!!
Look at rider, his harness straps flaps fast in the first 2 seconds of jump, and after third second flaps are realy slow. You can see the real speed of the jump in 1.25-1.27 min of original promo video.
That a shame !!
Overall nice floaty jump, but not 14 sec.

BigOne wrote:Naish, post the real raw video!! This one still very slow for sure!!
Look at rider, his harness straps flaps fast in the first 2 seconds of jump, and after third second flaps are realy slow. You can see the real speed of the jump in 1.25-1.27 min of original promo video.
That a shame !!
Overall nice floaty jump, but not 14 sec.

Looking at the video over and over again, I think I agree with you. Once he was up in the air, he certainly needed to do more bar steering to keep the kite "floating" in the right direction. When the guy was at the top, suddenly the clouds passing by very slowly.
I might be wrong, but to me it looks tampered- sorry.

Cheers
Caesar

Last edited by Caesar on Mon Feb 04, 2013 10:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.